Rapist Was Transvestite, Female Prisoner Contends

June 17, 1984|by TIM BLANGGER, Sunday Call-Chronicle

The Lehigh County inmate who said she was raped Sunday night by a man being housed in the women's section of the prison said yesterday her assailant was not a male transsexual - a man in the process of becoming a woman - but a male transvestite.

During a brief interview in the prison's visiting room, the inmate said she knew her assailant and had met him during previous incarcerations in the prison. During each of those times, the rape victim said, the male transvestite was placed with the women.

Asked how a man could be placed with women in the prison, the inmate said she suspected either prison officials knew the person was a man and placed him with women for safety reasons, or that the man slipped through the prison's strip search and medical examination procedures.

The inmate said during her previous three incarcerations, she never received an examination for venereal disease or body lice.

Warden Timothy Carver could not be reached for comment yesterday.

When Carver acknowledged Tuesday that county detectives are looking into the reported rape, he said prison officials are reviewing procedures to determine how a male was placed in the women's section of the prison.

The rape victim, who was arrested Saturday by Allentown police on a prostitution charge, said she was taking a shower Sunday night when her assailant entered the two-stall shower between 8 and 9 p.m.

He held a sharp object to her neck and raped her, the inmate said.

The victim could give no reason for the attack, but suspected her assailant was attracted to her.

At the time of the attack, the female inmate, 30, said she was ill from withdrawal symptoms related to heroin addiction. At the time of her arrest, she was doing a "bundle," or about $100 worth of heroin, a day.

Since the attack, the female inmate has been placed in protective lock-up. The male inmate has been placed in an isolation cell as well, prison officials said.

The woman claimed she was receiving threats and being harassed by other inmates for "ratting out" on her attacker, whom she suspected of having sexual relations with other women in the prison.

She says she is also wary of the institution's food because she had been told her food would be poisoned because she told prison authorities about the incident, she said.

The female inmate said her attacker was a man who dressed like a woman and had some feminine features, but was not receiving hormone injections or preparing for surgery to change sexes.

"This is a guy, OK?" she said.

The inmate said she planned to file suit against prison officials over the incident. The inmate's sister, who was present during the inmate's interview with the Call-Chronicle, said after the interview that she was going to talk to a local attorney tomorrow.

In the meantime, the inmate said she feels officials are not treating her report of a rape seriously. "I was victimized, OK? They (prison officials) want to sweep it away."